New
York Governor Vetoes Anti-Creosote Bill
(Beyond Pesticides, September 1, 2004) Governor George
Pataki of New York State recently vetoed a landmark bill that would
have made New York the first state to phase-out the use of creosote-treated
wood for most uses, according to the Associated
Press (AP).

Westchester County
Democrat Richard Brodsky and Chairman of the Environmental Conservation
Committee, Senator Carl Marcellino, first introduced the Bill, S04975/A05930,
in May of last year. After full deliberation and passage in both the
Senate and the Assembly, the Governor vetoed the Bill saying in a memo
issued August 27, 2004 that although "serious and legitimate issues"
about safety were raised by the Bill’s sponsors, the phase-out
was "premature."

"I am reluctant
to approve an outright ban on creosote in New York state without first
giving the EPA a reasonable opportunity to study and report on the health
effects of creosote in the workplace," said Pataki’s memo.

Creosote, a heavy-duty
wood preservative, has been under review by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency for decades. Currently, the Agency is battling a lawsuit with
Beyond Pesticides over unreasonable delays on issuing an assessment
of the risks to human health and the environment posed by the wide use
of the chemical and for not taking immediate action to prevent hazardous
public and environmental exposure.

Assemblyman Brodsky
called Pataki's veto outrageous. "This veto is a sorry and disappointing
refusal to recognize the need to control toxins in our water and in
our working people," reports AP.

The bill was initiated
by The Dockbuilders Local 1456 union, a local division of the New
York City District Council of Carpenters. The union commissioned
a study on the health effects of creosote in 2003 and is struggling
to protect the health of its workers by banning the use of the toxic
pesticide.

The Creosote
Council, representing creosote industry producers and treaters,
has lobbied heavily against the bill, claiming that it, “would
impose an unnecessary economic burden on the state if the bills become
law.” In 1984, EPA caved to industry pressure and decided to retain
the use of creosote (along with the other two main wood pesticides,
CCA and penta) despite evidence of elevated risks of cancer and other
human health effects because of its high economic benefit and lack of
economically viable alternatives. The Agency’s reasoning has been
challenged by environmentalists and alternative producers ever since.
(See Beyond Pesticides Poison
Poles.)

The Bill provided
important legislation that finally recognized the hazards posed by creosote
toward workers, the environment and all others who come in contact with
the chemical. By 2006, the Bill would have phased-out the manufacture,
sale and use of creosote (with provisions to allow continued use of
already treated wood) and by 2005, would have prohibited the toxic burning
of the chemical except in specially designated city incinerators and
required proper disposal in lined landfills to prevent groundwater contamination.
The Bill however, was far from perfect in that it exempted utility poles
and railroad ties – two of the largest uses of creosote.